Sunday, July 31, 2011

So my first week at work went great! It was slow and boring at times but then again, reading policy and file sorting other workers work isn't exactly that interesting. But I have one more week at the office before I go to training and then after that I should start getting cases of my very own! Yay! And yes, I know how much of a dork I sound like right now. Get back to me when I actually have cases and see if I'm still so excited.

One of the most exciting things was getting my own office. It has no windows and I don't have a login for my computer yet, or my name on it, or even a password for the printer yet, but I have an office! The problem? It's sad. My office that is. I mean I know cubicles are. It's just, this one is sad, sad. I was going to take a picture but I'm not sure if that is allowed and the guy across from me already looked at me a bit oddly when I was excited to find pink highlighters already in the desk.

So while it is sad, it just needs some love. Of course though there are rules to decorating your office. Personal photos and decor are allowed as long as they are not permanent and could be removed if requested. Obviously any offense materials like profanity and such are not allowed. Because of water, no live plants of any kind, whether potted or freshly cut are also not allowed. That last one is a huge bummer. I was excited to have plants or fresh flowers. Nothing can be tacked to the walls, nothing can be hung on the walls and only the tack boards provided can be used. You also can not use stickers or tape on any surface, though magnets are permitted.

But besides that, I have some wiggle room. I brought in photos in cute photo frames but besides that I'm not exactly sure what look I'm going for but I like these ideas and objects.

I would have loved to have done a bulletin board or two covered in cute, quirky fabric like these fabric panels from Bella Dia. But I can't cover the bulliten boards they provided or bring in my own so instead I was thinking...

To make my boring black bulletin boards more festive I would use the idea of using recycled buttons as thumbtacks that comes from Eko Fabrik. Now to find buttons. If only my Mom still had her huge red Christmas tin of buttons. Man. The one time Mom finally gets rid of something, twenty years later I need it.

Of course I will need a place to keep my pens. I'm using a coffee mug my mom gave me right now but I would actually like to use it for coffee so I like the idea of doing it old school and covering a soup can or such with paper like Real Simple shows. I think a drawing from A. would be cuter though than paper. Thankfully he's become addicted to markers lately.

And to keep odds and ends like paper clips and staples I like the idea of using this cute weiner dog ashtray from Urban Outfitters. Because I have a weiner dog, Walter, it will add extra sentiment to it. Now to find something cat related for Emma. Hmm.

Saturday, July 23, 2011

I'm not gonna even try to contain my excitement and dance around to get to the point of this post, so here it is. I have a new job!!!

But wait? Didn't I just announce I had a new job? Yup, I did. But that is now my old, new job. It um, sucked. What I thought would be okay and that I could handle because I'm an adult who needs to help pay the bills dragged on and on. And it was only two months. I have no idea how The Husband has made mirrors for four and a half years. It seems not to bother him as much as it did me. But for me, working on a line where I don't get to talk to people a lot is horrible. Down right horrible.

Which is why I am so excited to tell everyone I know that I run into that after a five month process of waiting and waiting some more, I accepted a position with the state as an assistance payments worker where I will work in at one of the local counties Department of Human Services (DHS). What is an assistance payments worker? Well first off, I'm not a social worker. Nope. When people need help with food assistance, medicaid or other state benefits they are assigned to an assistance payment worker. The payments worker then maintains and updates the case file as necessary.

I am so thrilled to have been given this opportunity and while this was never on my short list of careers I considered, I feel deeply that this is a good match for me. I think that it will be very rewarding, helping individuals help themselves become self sufficient again. I also think it will cause me to cry in my car at times because of how frustrating the job will be.

I start on Monday and am as nervous as I was starting middle and high school. In fact, it even mirrors starting school. I've been shopping for new clothes (grown up ones of course), office supplies (I need fun colored pens, blue will not do, I require purple) and even got my hair cut and highlighted. I want to fit in. I want to look like I belong. I want the other people to like me. In fact, it is like school. Only now if I flunk at this I get fired versus repeating a class. Yikes!

Overall though I feel extremely excited and can't to start Monday. I get my own cubicle, my own phone number with an extension and voice mail, my own business card and a name plaque thingy for my desk. I'm such a nerd to be so excited but really, I'm so freaking excited!

About Me

I'm a full time working mom to my two kiddos. Peanut, a 5 year old who loves super heroes, Star Wars and his own opinions. He also happens to have a speech delay and SPD. Snuggle Bug, born in October 2013, who The Husband and I struggled through secondary infertility to have. I'm also the wife to a smart mouthed video gamer who recently went back to college. Our family is rounded out by a wiener dog and 2 cats. This blog serves simply as my on-going ramblings.